Sunday, September 19, 2010

Ubuntu Software Centre has great potential

The Ubuntu distribution has definitely helped out Linux to become more popular among computer users worldwide. One great concept that Ubuntu brings to GNU/Linux distributions is the ease of use. Usually, when I recommend Linux to newcomers I always tell them to download Ubuntu first. It is good looking, easy to use and intuitive for someone who is coming from Windows or Mac OS X. One of the many great features of Ubuntu is its Software Centre. In the past, installing software on some of the GNU/Linux distributions was difficult for new users and this made them very frustrated. Today, anyone who uses Ubuntu can go to the software centre and choose thousands of applications they would like to install. All applications are grouped by categories and there is a featured section as well. If you do not want to browse through the categories you can do a general search for a specific program. The Software Centre has centralized Linux application installation and made it very convenient. However, the Ubuntu Software Centre still has some growing and evolving to do. In the future it would be nice to see reviews of applications included in the software center. This would enable people to choose the top rating apps and also read reviews of others before installing.
Also, the Ubuntu Software Centre should start charging for open source software and help out the hard working programmers that bring us great apps for the GNU/Linux desktop. This would enable the programmers and the many great open source projects to earn a revenue from the software they produce. Advanced games would be more plentiful and complex software would be available as well. The Ubuntu Software Centre has a lot of potential to create a great market for excellent GNU/Linux software and a great stream of revenue for open source programmers that are struggling to turn a profit. I hope that the next few versions of Ubuntu will have these great features implemented. The Software Centre can spur a new class of great applications for the GNU/Linux platform and bring more users to use Linux as their primary operating system.

There is a section for purchase software. It is in the left menu pane at the top in the "Get Software" category. There is only one software so far and I hope that Canonical is working hard to convince other software makers to give it a try.

I like your idea about showing user reviews. This can help a person decide whether a particular software is worth trying or not.